Food that's out of this world.

April 25, 2006

Leftover Lamb and Chickpea Curry

A couple of nights ago, Daniel and I had dinner with a friend of ours at Amber, a very good Indian restaurant down at Santana Row. We came home with some leftovers, including some lamb shank that had been braised with ginger and other spices.

Tonight, I concocted a curry using the leftover lamb. It was very loosely based on recipe from Jamie Oliver's Happy Days Live DVD. It came out very tasty, though the lamb ended up being more of a flavor accent than a main ingredient. Unlike most of my previous attempts at curry, it really tasted like a curry, thanks in part, I think to a secret ingredient - a can of light coconut milk. Using good quality curry powder probably helped as well.

Ingredients

Leftover cooked lamb, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 15 oz. can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained

1 onion, sliced

~ 1 tsp. minced fresh ginger

2 tsp. curry powder (I used Sun Brand Madras Curry Powder)

1 tsp. garam masala

The Steps

Cook the onion in a bit of vegetable oil until it is soft and starts to brown.

Toss in the ginger, curry powder, and garam masala, and cook for another 30 seconds to 1 minute, stirring.

Add chickpeas, tomatoes, and coconut milk. Bring it to a simmer, and cook everything, stirring, until the sauce thickens up a little.

Toss in the lamb, and cook until heated through.

Very tasty. I'll have to try adapting the recipe so that I can make it starting with raw lamb or chicken - I don't usually have leftover lamb shank lying around.